Tides of War
by Windfox
Summary: Truly, the conflict between Meridell and the Darigan Citadel is inevitable. There is no point in blaming either side for it. Whoever wins will have plenty of time to claim that their actions were justified.
1. Chapter 1

**So its been a few months, huh? I've been busy with a lot of stuff, and my writing schedule has reverted back to "Continuously edit the same small section and never get anything done". This has sat in my computer for at least two months now, and I've decided to just screw trying to make it the best writing ever seen by human eyes and just upload it. Also, the surest way to catch my mistakes is to upload a story, then I start seeing all kinds of errors.**

**About this story. This is pretty much going to be a kind of novelization of the Meridell plot series, which was my favorite in all of Neopets (LDP comes second). It's pretty much the only plot TNT ever made in which there was any kind of moral ambiguity at all. For the other "Pick-a-side" plots, it was always "Good" side and "Evil" side. And then would come the stupid team chants and the stupid "Thieves/whoever/etc. ONLY!!!" boards, and so on. And of course the 12 year olds who thought picking the evil side made them bad asses. But I'm getting off the point. I loved how neither Meridell or Darigan was totally wrong in their actions during the plot. I had thought about a short story from Skarl's point of view, but that eventually got scrapped for this. Let's see how well this works.  
**

**While I'm going to stay true to what happened in the plot for the most part, I'm going be using my own ideas for a good deal of the story too. What I'm trying to say in my roundabout way is that this isn't just going to be word for word from the plot comic, although I'm going to be using a lot of the scenes from it. What I love most about the Neopets fandom is that the details of all of the canon are left to the reader to decide, and I'll try to make the details surrounding the solid facts interesting, to say the least. **

**This story has the added excitement of never knowing when I'm going to suddenly never update again. This is my first actual full story that I'm going to post, and what I've already uploaded is pretty much everything that I've typed. So sorry in advance if I don't finish the story. **

**If anyone is wondering if I'm going to continue Confessions, the answer is a definite maybe. I sure as hell am going to finish the Maraqua storyline, even if I have to just make it it's own story (which I am still toying around with). I have the next chapter of Confessions halfway typed, and hopefully I'll have time during Winter Break to finish it up.**

**By now you're probably tired of reading what I have to say. I know I would be.**

* * *

Lisha hated getting up in the morning. Although she of course had to do it for school, that was mandatory, she had no choice. There were_ laws_ that said she had to wake up early in the morning for school. However, there should also be laws that _forbid_ being forced to wake up for mornings during weekends. 

Lisha's friends, Boris, Morris, and Kayla, all loved playing Neoquest. Well, Lisha loved it too, but that was beside the point. Even though it was just a board game they still insisted on only being able to play it in a set period of time, just like the original version of Neoquest. Unfortunately that time period was mornings.

She had argued, she had complained, she had whined; it had made no difference. Her friends were monsters for authenticity. As Morris had once said, "If we are going to wear costumes while we play, playing at the right time doesn't seem like too much of a stretch, does it?"

She hated Morris when he broke character to make a smartass point.

"Lisha! I'm running low on life!"

Lisha shook her head and turned her attention back to the game. Lost in her thoughts, she had almost forgotten that they were still playing.

"Flash heal!" Lisha cried, gesturing to Morris with one hand while rolling a D8 with the other. It came up 7; Morris would get a good heal from her "spell". A pure light surrounded Morris (well, not really), and his wounds were completely healed. Morris breathed a sigh of relief from his non-existent pain.

People would ask why the group of four always insisted on treating the game like they were having an actual battle. Lisha had tried explaining it, but eventually gave up. The thrill of immersive table-top gaming is really something that has to be experienced.

"Kayla!" cried Lisha. "How long until that Glacier Strike is ready?"

Kayla was concentrating on her own spell. She didn't have to, really, since she wasn't actually casting anything. But it was just one of the things that made the game more fun.

"Five more Seconds!" she shouted back.

That wouldn't be as fast as it sounded, it would take much longer than five seconds in real time. "Seconds" (note the impressive capital S) actually referred to game time. While the game was very good, it was still just a board game. Lisha and the others had to pull cards, move pieces, and other such nonsense. With all of these actions going on, it was impossible to make moves fast enough to keep pace with the battle if it happened in normal time. Annoying crap like real life made an in-game time system a necessity.

It was Boris's turn now, his job was to try and take the majority of damage from monsters so the rest of the party didn't have to worry about being hurt. He had made a bad roll and let the monster get a quick attack off on Morris, but he was doing a good job overall.

Boris used his primary attack again, which caused the monster to turn its attention back to him, hopefully buying the precious few Seconds Kayla needed to finish her spell.

Lisha reached for the dice; she typically made the moves for enemies since cardboard cutouts obviously couldn't do so themselves. She rolled, and it came up horribly for them. The monster reared back and thrust its sharp claws right into Boris' chest. Boris cried out in mock pain, the attack had almost completely depleted his health.

"Boris!!" cried Lisha, getting into the game.

Morris attacked once more, but it wouldn't be enough to kill the monster, they needed Kayla's Glacier Strike for that.

"Kayla, time!" Lisha shouted again.

"Two Seconds!"

Lisha cursed. Boris would be "dead" by then, and Kayla would be a sitting duck. She would have to try for something risky.

"Casting Lifegift!" Lisha shouted, telling the group of her move. Lifegift would fully restore Boris's health, but at the same time drain her health and magic power to almost nothing. Hopefully, she wouldn't need to have that much health though, the monster should be defeated with the Glacier Strike.

There was a problem though. The spell only had a fifty percent success rate. If it failed, Lisha would be automatically killed. But they had no other options.

Lisha crossed her fingers, and threw her arms outward, casting the spell. There was a pause to see if the spell had worked-

(They rolled the two D20; they totaled up to 34)

-and Boris returned to full life. Lisha collapsed; she would do no more good in this fight. But it didn't matter because…

"Glacier Strike!!"

Glacier Strike took quite a long time to charge, but once it was ready, it was devastating. Ice materialized out of thin air, crushing the monster and killing it instantly. It was a draining spell on the caster, but obviously worth it.

Boris and Morris cheered. "We did it!" cried Morris. "It's about time we beat that guy, we've been trying for a week now!"

Lisha used some potions from her inventory to bring herself back up to full strength. She could have used them during the battle but they really weren't efficient in battle, as they used a turn.

Kayla brought out the large manual that detailed the events that the party faced while playing the game. "Okay, all we have to do is clear one more room with three monsters in it, and then we can fight Xantan!"

As if summoned by her words, three shadows suddenly loomed over them.

Boris gulped. "Um… These aren't the monsters, right?"

Lisha sighed. The shadows weren't monsters, but something much more annoying.

"Are you four losers still playing that stupid game!"

Lisha and her friends looked up. A Korbat, Skieth, and Grarrl, Eric, Arnold, and John respectively, stood there. They all wore scowls, and looked very intimidating. Or rather, they were _trying_ to look intimidating. The trio was quite pathetic really.

Arnold and John weren't athletic enough to be jocks, and Eric wasn't smart enough to be a geek, so they were both ostracized by those communities. And they were also arrogant assholes, which might have had something to do with it as well.

They had gravitated together quickly, and set out to wreak havoc upon the poor fools who had rejected them. Except those "poor fools" didn't really care about their "havoc", so they ended up constantly bothering Lisha and her friends. They didn't care either, but Eric and his dumb muscle didn't seem to take the hint as well as they had before.

When someone says the word "Neoquest", most people tend to think of the typical nerd herd playing in one of their mother's basements. For the most part, this tends to be true. But, contrary to popular belief, they weren't there because of aversion to light, or because there was a toilet and food close by. They did it because about half of the population tend to be utter jackasses about table top gaming.

Lisha preferred playing outside however, and she'd be damned if she was going to let a few idiots ruin her fun. However, she couldn't pretend that the sanctuary of one of their houses wouldn't be just a tad appealing at this point.

She normally just ignored them; hopefully they would go away eventually. But apparently she had failed her karmic save roll.

"Well, you know what," said Eric. "Play times over!"

He nodded to Arnold, and the Skieth reached down and flipped the board over, completely destroying the game.

Lisha winced inwardly. Not because of the game, they could easily recreate it. Lisha was thinking more of how Kayla, Morris, and Boris were going to beat the snot out of the people who had the _audacity_ to interrupt a game of Neoquest. Unlike them, she could deal with it.

"You gonna cry, four-eyes?" asked John. Lisha subconsciously adjusted her glasses, which were admittedly freakishly huge. She could deal with personal insults too. In fact, after a few years of high school, a verbal jab as weak as "four-eyes" barely registered.

"Damn it!" Kayla cried. "We can only play this game a few hours a day, you guys just made us waste a lot of time!"

"Yeah, you're gonna pay for that!" cried Morris, furious.

Arnold sneered. "What are you going to do about it, twerp?" He bent over and with no warning punched Morris square in the face.

Lisha couldn't, and wouldn't, deal with that. Morris wouldn't be hurt, Arnold couldn't break a window, much less actually hurt someone. But no one took a swing at one of her friends without severe consequences.

John noticed that the group was preparing for a fight. "What are you going to do? Cast a thunderbolt on us?"

This was the last straw. A whole party of healers wouldn't be able to save John and his friends.

* * *

While Lisha and her friends were pummeling the wannabe bullies, a much more serious battle was about to begin a few miles away and a couple thousand years in the past. 

A blue Lupe clad in plate armor spotted three horribly misshapen pets walking down a side path. They weren't as unsightly as Mutants, but were still menacing. They did look suspicious, but the Lupe had never been one to discriminate because of looks or background. He himself had only gone from a young street urchin to Sir Jeran Borodere in only a few short years, all because King Skarl had seen past his lack of status or money. He knew more than anyone that judging someone based on appearance was foolhardy at best.

And so instead of charging in, sword held high, he simply asked them what their business was.

The three pets stopped and looked Jeran over. One of them gasped. "It's him! One of the knights!"

His companions turned to look at him. "Are you sure? Is it really one of them?" one of them asked.

The first's eyes narrowed. "I will never forget any of their faces for all of my life."

Jeran was confused, but realized that the situation was headed in a violent direction. "I am a knight of Meridell, if that's what you wanted to know…"

Apparently it was the wrong thing to say. The already hostile scouts drew their weapons; it was clear a fight was inevitable. Jeran also unsheathed his sword as well as taking his shield from his back. He threw his pack to the side; it would only get in the way.

One of the pets laughed. "Do you really think you can beat all three of us by yourself?"

Jeran barely heard him; he had slid into his battle mindset. All of his brain power was focused on how he could win the skirmish. He quickly sized his enemies up. While none of them were nearly as strong or skilled as he was, their stance made it obvious that they weren't beginners with the sword. An average opponent would be in trouble when dealing with them.

It was lucky that he was far from average.

The leader of the three let out a ferocious battle cry, and they all charged as one. They swiped, but Jeran had already rolled out of the way. With almost impossible speed, he leaped off the ground and lunged directly at the largest of the bunch. With a single swipe of his sword, the behemoth was down.

The remaining two hesitated for a moment, and then attacked Jeran again. He blocked both swings at once, one with his shield and one with his sword. He took advantage of the shock of his adversaries, and quickly struck both of them down.

The short battle over, Jeran examined his attackers. They would all live, but wouldn't be in fighting condition anytime soon. He sighed in relief; his squad would need them alive for questioning. Also, he preferred to withhold from killing blows when they could be avoided.

Retrieving his pack, Jeran cut lengths from a strong piece of rope he carried with him at all times. He used the rope to tie all three assailants up. He knew we would barely be able to carry one of them back to his camp, let alone all three. It would be far quicker to run back to his camp and return with more men.

The Lupe returned his weapons to their places and grabbed his pack. "Don't go anywhere guys," said Jeran with a smirk. He never really participated in battle banter, he preferred to focus on the fight. But now that it was over, and he was the victor, a small verbal jab was almost required.

When he came back to the spot with a small squad of his men in tow, he immediately regretted the joke he had made.

The pets were gone, leaving behind only the rope that had been used to tie them up, along with a marking on the ground. Jeran looked closely at the marking. It was obviously the crest of a kingdom, but he couldn't place it.

"Someone run back for Dolohov!" he called. Dolohov was a rookie in the Army, but was already well-known for his extensive knowledge of all things related to geography. He would certainly be able to identify the marking.

Danner, a young blue Wocky who had risen quickly in the ranks of Meridell's Army, stepped forward. "Jeran," he began. "Should we prepare the men for a possible counterattack from these three?"

Jeran considered for a moment. "No. I think they were only scouts. Right now they are most likely returning to their superiors in order to give a full report."

Danner nodded. "And what do you think this means for us?"

Jeran ran through their brief conversation in his head. They had known he was a knight, but not of what kingdom. They had seemed to become enraged when he had said that he was a knight of …

… _Meridell_.

He gasped, almost collapsing from shock. He hoped he was just being paranoid, that the scouts had attacked him for some other reason than the one he was beginning to suspect.

"Private Dolohov reporting, SIR!" called a voice from behind him. Jeran turned and saw Dolohov standing at attention. Normally Jeran would remind Dolohov that kind of formality wasn't required in his unit, it felt weird being given too much respect when about half of his men were actually older than him. However, he was far too worried care about Dolohov's formality now.

"Dolohov, can you tell me which kingdom this crest belongs to?" asked Jeran. He wasn't sure why he was so worried, there was no way they were from…_that_ place. _They_ could never have found them, it was impossible…

Dolohov glanced at the marking on the ground that Jeran had indicated. "SIR! That is the crest of the kingdom of Darigan, SIR!"

At the word Darigan, Jeran's heart stopped. 'So,' he thought to himself, oddly calm after the confirmation of his worst fears. 'They've finally found us. What happens now?'

"Darigan?" asked Danner. "I've never heard of that kingdom before. Have you Jeran?"

If the situation hadn't been so serious, Jeran would have laughed. Instead he called to the rest of his men. "Everyone back to base, now! We must return to King Skarl as soon as possible!"

While his men weren't the most well disciplined unit in the Meridell Army they always knew when it was time to shut the hell up and do what the captain said. Without a word, they lined up and began to double-time it back to their base.

Jeran had Danner in the front of the squad along with him, so he could relay orders. "As soon as we get back, I want the entire camp ready for transportation back to Meridell in under an hour. Anything that isn't ready gets left behind."

"Captain, the sun is going down soon. Don't you think we should stop-"

"NO!" shouted Jeran, surprising both Danner and himself. Jeran calmed himself down, and then continued. "We travel on through the night. I have vital information that King Skarl must know at all costs."

"It's worth abandoning our post and working the men far past their normal limits?" Danner was merely pondering how serious the situation was, he wasn't questioning the order. Danner knew Jeran wouldn't do it unless it was absolutely necessary. "What, is Meridell about to be destroyed or something?"

It was obvious that Danner had been hoping to lighten the mood, but he had only made the situation hit home for Jeran.

"If we don't give Skarl a proper warning of the situation, it very well could be."

* * *

**Constructive criticism would be awesome.** ** Seriously. **

**I talked way too much at the beginning, so I won't talk much here. Thanks to Ruby for the title of the story, I probably wouldn't have posted this if it weren't for that (as I would still be thinking about a title).**

**Expect the next chapter whenever. And Merry Christmas. Or Happy Holidays if you don't celebrate Christmas. Or have a nice day if you don't celebrate anything.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Yes it's finally here. I'm shocked too. Well, if every chapter takes this long to put out, then I might be done with the story by 2015 if I keep to the schedule. But seriously, I'll try and get the next one out in a timely fashion (Weasel words like timely fashion are great. In terms of the universe, the chapter wait was almost instant. How's that for a timely fashion?)**

* * *

The thing Lisha disliked most about field trips was that they happened during school. Since they happened during school, she was forced to be in a group with her "peers". While Lisha loved the locations the school sent her class, it was always spoiled by her classmates. They always seemed to be on the epic quest of being as loud and annoying as possible, which made it impossible for Lisha to fully enjoy the various places the school took them to every month.

Lisha had resolved not to let her classmates ruin her day. She had been planning a Neoquest campaign set in Meridell for weeks now, and she had been thrilled to learn a few days ago that the class would be going to a museum that specialized in exhibits about the ancient kingdom. She hoped to learn as much as she could about Meridell as possible, and then use the information for the game.

Morris and Lisha had been assigned to the same tour group, so they quickly gravitated together. Boris and Kayla were there too, but were currently in another wing of the museum. They were probably the only four kids in the entire museum that were actually looking at the paintings; the other students were too busy talking to actually stop and enjoy the art. Lisha and Morris were quickly separated from the main group which went much faster than they did.

Lisha happened to see Eric and his cronies walking by, all of them trying (and failing) to look menacing while being covered in bandages. The three bullies tried to avoid meeting Lisha's eyes without looking like they were doing it, much to her amusement. They were still sore after their last beating, and would probably leave her alone for a couple of weeks.

Well, maybe a little longer than that. After the beating they had received yesterday they looked horrible. Lisha smiled, the excuse that the three idiots had made up when asked about their injuries was hilarious. There was no way they would tell the truth; if they did admit that Lisha's "dork squad" had beaten the crap out of them they might lose their non-existent rep.

Eric accidentally caught her eye, and she smirked at him. "Nice outfits," he sneered. Lisha supposed that habit had forced him to make the snide remark, because he looked like he wanted to take back the words as soon as he said them. Not because of any empathy for others of course, he was just afraid of what Lisha would do to him for the comment. If only he thought like that all the time, they might never bother her again…

Morris didn't even look away from the painting they had been viewing; he knew Lisha would handle it. She could go pummel them again… but she would get in trouble since it was during school hours. And they were in a _museum _of all places, something might be broken if they fought here. Lisha settled for a vicious glare in their direction, and Eric winced and ran away with his cohorts.

Lisha supposed she had asked for the insult. Lisha looked at her clothes; over her school uniform she was wearing her role-playing armor and wand. Her friends had decided to finish the game after school (Lisha wanted to know what the hell had happened to the stupid "Only during mornings" rule). To not to lose any time they decided to just wear their gear to school.

Lisha knew that what she was wearing was the equivalent of a large target on her back when it came to going to high school, or even outside in general. But she was used to it. Unlike her friends, she _never_ took off her gear. The old cardboard armor and cheap toy wand were her most important possessions; she would give away everything she owned before she gave them away. All of that other stuff was replaceable, but the gear was unique, and she treasured it.

"Hey Lisha, come look at this," said Morris quietly, beckoning her over. Lisha obliged, and looked at the painting that had his attention. It was a picture of someone who was obviously a military commander, looking down at his hundreds of troops. He only looked down on them due to elevation, the expression of pride on his face made it clear that he respected each and every one of his men. And although the individual troops were almost impossible to make out, it was easy to tell that they all shared that same pride and respect for their commander. It was a very moving piece.

Lisha sighed contently, daydreaming of being that commander, about to bravely lead troops into a glorious and just battle. "Hey Morris," she began. "Wouldn't it be nice to-"

"Don't say it Lisha."

She paused for a second. "You don't even know what I was going to say!"

Morris seemed tired, maybe even a little… annoyed. "You were going to talk about how it would have been nice to be in a situation like that general, right?"

Lisha nodded, blushing slightly. "Was it that obvious?"

Morris stared at her for a second. "You really want to get away from this life, don't you?"

"What?"

"I always hear you talking about how you wish your life was like this or like that, about how your life is so boring."

Lisha opened her mouth to protest, but Morris cut her off. "Don't deny it, you know it's true. Think about it."

Lisha opened her mouth to protest anyway, then closed it. Morris was right. Sometimes it seemed like all she wanted was to escape from the real world, into something right out of a fantasy novel. She nodded slowly.

"Is your life really that bad?"

"No, of course not!" protested Lisha.

"Then why are you so desperate to leave it behind?"

Lisha sighed. "I want be important," she said softly. "I want to be a hero, I want to make a difference in people's lives! In real life I don't matter at all."

"You matter now!" Morris insisted. "You have a family, you have friends! Haven't you ever thought about how they would feel if you left them? Haven't you ever thought how _I _would feel?"

"It isn't the same, and you know it!" cried Lisha

Morris looked like he was ready to continue, but then he visibly relaxed. "Lisha…"

"AHEM!"

Lisha turned rapidly at the sound of an adult pet clearing his throat; she had been paying so much attention to the argument with Morris that she had completely tuned out her surroundings. The cough had come from an old Nimmo, who looked at both Lisha and Morris with beaming eyes.

"You two seem to be fascinated with Neopian history," said the Nimmo. He looked at them with a large smile on his face; he must have totally missed the argument they had just shared.

Lisha tried to tell the Nimmo that neither of them were really history buffs, but he brushed her off. "You should come see the really good art!" he said, eyes beaming. "I know that both of you will really appreciate what we have in storage."

Lisha tried to decline, but something held her back. She _was_ slightly interested, what kind of nerd wouldn't be. And it wouldn't hurt to take a peek…

"We'd like that very much, thank you sir," said Lisha.

The old Nimmo lead Lisha and Morris to a door with an "Employees Only" sign hung on it. He took a key from his pocket and unlocked the door, pushing it wide open. He entered, and the children followed.

Lisha gasped in shock. The room was a treasure trove! There were paintings; sure, the room was mostly devoted to artwork as the Nimmo had said. But Lisha's attention had been stolen by something far more valuable.

There were books, hundreds of books on shelves filled to bursting. Lisha loved books; whenever she wasn't role-playing with her friends she could almost always be found reading something. Lisha longed to take a book and start reading; in fact the only reason she didn't was that the books looked so worn that she was afraid that she might damage one accidentally. She contented herself by looking at the titles she could read on the yellowed spines.

Meanwhile, the caretaker was showing Morris some of the paintings and giving details about them. Lisha tuned him out; she wanted to focus on the books.

"In this painting you can see the heroic Sir Borodere…"

Lisha paused in her examination of the books. She seemed to remember the name "Borodere", but she couldn't quite place where she knew it from. It was important to her though, she knew that for sure. She turned to get a better look at the painting that Morris and the Nimmo were currently viewing. What she saw almost made her faint.

The painting was of a blue Lupe wearing a full set of weapons and armor. It was obvious that he had just won a fight; he stood as the victor among three hideous enemies.

Morris smiled, glancing at her. "Cool painting, huh Lisha?"

She didn't reply, and Morris turned to look at her. He gasped, Lisha was shaking uncontrollably.

"NO!" cried Lisha, startling Morris and the Nimmo. "It can't be him!"

But the Lupe in the painting looked just like _him_. The Lupe had the same physical features, same stance, same cocky smirk. It was him, it had to be! Lisha couldn't take it anymore, she felt herself about to slip into unconsciousness.

"JERAN!!"

121212121212121212121

Morris, Kayla, and Borris all waited anxiously in the waiting room of the hospital. After Lisha had fainted, the old Nimmo had called an ambulance straight away. The teachers at the museum had notified Lisha's mother and decided to let Morris and the others leave the field trip early to wait at the hospital.

The doctors had assured them that Lisha would be fine after a few hours rest, and had given her a room to let her recover. This didn't stop Lisha's mother from worrying though; she looked like she could burst into tears at any moment.

Boris nudged Morris, "So what happened?" he asked, being totally solemn for once.

"I'm not really sure," replied Morris. "She saw a painting of some blue Lupe named 'Sir Borodere' or something."

At the words "Sir Borodere," Lisha's mother looked up at Morris.

"Did you say a blue Lupe?" asked Lisha's mother anxiously.

"Yeah, it was definitely a blue Lupe," responded Morris, confused.

"Did Lisha say anything else?" she continued. "Anything at all?"

Morris thought for a moment, and then remembered. "Oh yeah! Right before she fainted, she had screamed something that sounded like a name. It was something like "Gran" or-"

"Jeran?"

"Yeah, that's it," confirmed Morris. "But how did you know?"

Lisha's mother hesitated for a few moments. Then she nodded, seemingly to herself. "Jeran… was the name Lisha's brother."

The others gasped. Lisha had never mentioned a sibling, or had even hinted at being anything other than an only child.

"Borodere was his nickname, it was what all of the kids in the neighborhood called him," she said, looking both miserable and nostalgic at once.

Kayla reached over and squeezed her hand. "What happened to him?" she asked gently.

The woman sighed. "He disappeared one day, when Lisha was only seven…"

1212121212

_"So how do you play tag Jeran?" asked Lisha. _

_"You have to call me Sir Borodere!" protested Jeran, pouting. "It's a name I got for being a valiant knight!"_

_"Borodere is a stupid name!"_

_"No it isn't! I'm not gonna let you play unless you call me by the right name!"_

_"Fine… Sir Borodere," said Lisha, giving in. It was her seventh birthday, and Jeran had finally deemed her old enough to start playing "big kid" games with him. She wasn't going to blow her chance now over something as stupid as a name. Jeran had led her to the ruins of an old castle, which is where he normally played with his other friends. It was far, and Lisha wasn't sure how to get back, but she wasn't worried. Jeran was there after all, and he wouldn't let anything happen to her._

_"It's easy," he said, smirking. "You put your head against the tree and count down from 100." Jeran waved his "sword" (it was an old broom he had salvaged from the garbage) around while he talked, as if conducting the conversation. _

_Lisha gripped her own weapon, a "Rod of Ultranova" (Jeran had told her to pretend it wasn't plastic). Jeran had given it to her along with a breastplate (that was certainly much stronger the cardboard it was made out of) for her birthday. Even though she knew that they weren't real, she still treasured them. The fact that he had given them to her meant that he thought she was grown up enough to play with them. Lisha loved him for making them for her, but of course she would never admit it._

_Jeran finished explaining the game, and decreed that she was It first since she was the smallest. Jeran had used this reasoning before, several times actually. Lisha knew from experience that it would be simpler to just let him have his way instead of getting into an argument, just like with the name. She argued anyway, but eventually it was determined that Lisha was going to be It._

_"Now remember to count to one hundred before you start looking for me," said Jeran, preparing to find a hiding spot. Lisha turned to the tree and closed her eyes. "You'll never find me in a thousand years!" said Jeran, and she heard him beginning to run away and hide._

_Lisha counted fairly until she was sure that he was gone. Once she got to around sixty, she decided it was good enough, and she began to search for him. She quickly found him hiding behind a rock, she could see his ears sticking out over the top of it. Lisha jumped over the rock, intent on tagging Jeran. However, when she cleared the rock, she only found a bed of tall blue flowers._

_Continuing the search, she eventually found a blue tail sticking out from a bush. Hoping to surprise him, she ran up and jumped on the tail as hard as she could._

_"Hey! That hurt!" cried a deep and angry voice that was definitely _not_ Jeran's. Lisha saw that she had actually stepped on the tail of a blue Kacheek, who looked rather angry. Lisha ran away before he could start yelling at her some more. She lost him, and continued to look for Jeran._

_Lisha combed the entire area, but couldn't find him. He must have picked a really good hiding place, Lisha had to give up. "Okay Jeran," she cried as loud as she could, hoping he could hear. "I give up, you win! Come on out!"_

_There was no answer._

_"Fine!" she pouted. "Sir Borodere! I surrender, you win!"_

_No response._

_"I'm serious Jeran, come on out!"_

_Nothing._

_Lisha screamed at him to stop trying to scare her. Her throat started to hurt, but she kept screaming. Jeran had to know what he was doing to her, She knew that she was okay though, Jeran wouldn't ever leave her alone, he was her big brother!_

_Eventually though, her screams turned into whimpers. And as the sun began to set with no sign of Jeran, the whimpers turned into sobs._

1212121212

"We searched for months, but no one ever found a trace of him." Tears welled up in her eyes. Unable to hold contain her sorrow any longer, she wept softly.

No one said anything for a while; they just sat and reflected on the tragic story. Eventually, Lisha's mother said, "Lisha must have looked at the picture of that blue Lupe and thought he was Jeran. It is an odd coincidence; Borodere isn't exactly a common name."

"Why didn't Lisha ever mention any of this to us?" asked Boris. "We're her best friends!"

Lisha's mother sniffed. "She probably doesn't want you to know, but that's only half of it. The real problem is that Lisha hasn't acknowledged that her brother even existed since he turned up missing. If someone told her about him, she would deny even having a brother. We were never sure whether she was just pretending or if she had actually blocked memories of Jeran from her mind."

"But you must have had something around the house of his, or a picture of him, or something!" protested Kayla.

"It didn't matter. Lisha would just ask us who the Lupe in the picture was, and she wouldn't believe us if we told her who it was. Eventually we just stopped trying and hid everything that related to Jeran in the attic. It's been years since she's had to think about him. Suddenly seeing that picture and hearing "Borodere" probably made her remember him, at least in part."

She paused, deep in thought. "Even though she seemed to have totally forgotten him; there was always one thing she still has that links her to Jeran."

"What is it?"

"That armor and wand she plays with. I'm sure you've noticed how she always has it on when she's with you?"

They nodded.

"Well, she does the same thing at home. She sleeps in it, she eats in it, the only thing that she takes it off for is when she bathes, and even then it's in the bathroom with her."

"Why are they so important to her?" asked Kayla.

Before she could answer, a nurse opened the door and walked in. "Lisha's woken up," she said, smiling. "You can go see her now."

Lisha's mother jumped up and ran into the room. Kayla and Borris got up to enter as well, but Morris held up a hand to stop them. "Give them a minute or two alone," said Morris.

They waited, and listened to Lisha's mother cry tears of joy as she smothered her daughter with affection. Morris could barely make out Lisha's protesting cries, catching an occasional "Mom!" or "Quit it!"

Eventually Lisha called for them to come in, and they entered the room. Lisha's mother had finally calmed down, but was still beaming with joy. As Boris began a joke that was surely very inappropriate for the situation, Morris took the chance to get the first good look at Lisha he had gotten since the museum.

Lisha didn't look happy or sad, she didn't look worried that she had randomly collapsed a few hours before hand. She looked… anxious. Morris had seen her like this before; there was something that Lisha really wanted to do. The only reason she hadn't left the hospital already was probably because her there was no way her mother would allow it.

Lisha caught his eye, and he stiffened. Morris tried to seem like he hadn't been staring at her for the past few seconds, but he knew she wouldn't buy it.

"Morris," began Lisha. He cringed slightly, expecting the worst. "Could you grab my bag real fast?"

'Well, that was anticlimactic,' thought Morris. He grabbed Lisha's pack from the chair that it had been left in and gently handed it to her. Lisha took a water bottle from it and took a long swig, emptying the contents.

"Thanks," Lisha said simply. She held out the empty bottle to Morris, "Could you throw this away for me?" Any other day and a reply of "Why can't you do it?" would already have been uttered. Of course, he wasn't about to do it now that she was alright. The sight of her in a hospital had just slowed the reflex.

Morris was about to refuse her request when she gave him a look. Lisha was pretty good at giving meaningful glances, and he was sure that Lisha was trying to tell him that throwing away that water bottle was very important. Morris nodded, and grabbed the bottle.

Before he could throw it away; he noticed that Lisha had somehow slipped a note into his hand. Curious about what Lisha couldn't tell him in front of her mother, Morris muttered a quick, "One sec, bathroom," to the group and walked out of the room. He unfolded the note and began to read.

"You're _sure_ that's what she said Morris?" asked Kayla, relaxing against a tree.

"No Kayla, I'm not sure," replied Morris sarcastically. "I was just lying those _seven_ times you asked me before. I really have no idea what Lisha said!"

For the record, Morris was absolutely sure that the note Lisha had given him said to gather the gang at the old elm tree at six PM.

Kayla scowled, and started to pace back and forth. "It's almost six thirty!" she suddenly cried. Where is she!?"

Morris sighed. "I'm sure she has a good reason for being late, she can tell us when she gets here."

"_If_ she gets here…"

Morris looked over at Boris who was lying down on the grass and watching the sunset. At least he wasn't complaining. He scanned the horizon, and spotted a familiar shape with a large pair of ears running towards them.

"There she is," said Morris pointing.

Kayla looked up and snorted. "Finally," she mumbled.

As she got closer, Morris realized that she wasn't carrying anything. "Hey guys, she doesn't have Neoquest on her."

Boris shrugged without getting up. "She probably thinks one of us brought our sets. That's what we get for lack of planning."

Kayla groaned. "I can run back to my house and grab mine, but it'll take a few minutes."

"Well, wait for Lisha first," said Morris. "She might have someone bringing her copy or something."

Lisha finally reached the trio and came to an ungraceful stop. She leaned against the tree for support, panting heavily. Looking at her, Morris realized that there was something different about her that he couldn't place. It was her eyes; they had a new glint that hadn't been there before. After a moment's thought he had it: determination. Lisha had always been incredibly forceful when she wanted to be, but now it seemed like she had directed it towards an important goal.

'God help us all,' thought Morris dryly.

"Sorry I'm late," she said in between breaths. "I had to get away from my mom."

"That's fine Lisha," said Boris. Kayla opened her mouth, presumably to add her opinion on whether or not it was fine, but Morris cut her off. "Did you forget your copy of Neoquest?"

Lisha shook her head. "We aren't gonna play today."

"Then what are we doing here?"

Lisha had finally caught her breath, and stood up straight. She smiled at them and said, "We're going to go exploring!"

* * *

**It's currently 1 AM when I type this. I would normally save this chapter for tomorrow to give it a once over after a good night's sleep, but I don't want to spend another few days (few weeks, few months...) tweaking little things like I always end up doing. So it's going up now, and I'm certain that there is at least one gremlin in there somewhere. If I wake up tomorrow and discover that I'm uploaded error-ridden drivel, I can edit from there.**

**For the next chapter, I have almost none of it written. That doesn't really have an affect on when the chapter comes out though, I normally have 75-80 percent of a chapter done in the first week or two. The long wait stems from the remaining unfinished bit that gives me an unending amount of grief. The extra wait isn't all bad though, it gives me time to think of new ideas for the story. Anyway, I'm not even going to take a stab at when I'll have the next chapter is out though.**

**And now I'm going to sleep. Hope you liked that chapter,**

**Windfox**


	3. Chapter 3

**It has been a while... and hey, we're approaching the year anniversary of Confessions not being updated! On the off chance that I ever do get around to finishing that, I do have a sequel of sorts kind of planned based on AC3 (which was tons of fun, especially all the whining after the prizes came out. I guess since I've stopped caring about earning Neopoints for the most part I can't really understand the whiner point of view. There were some hilariously epic posts though. **

**I'm so glad I told the truth at the end of the last chapter (as in I had no clue when the next one would come out) as opposed to saying "soon" again. Wouldn't want to lie to any new readers. If you want to make the wait less annoying, you could always read one word a day. At something around five thousand words, you'd probably finish just in time for the next chapter.**

**In conclusion, the only people who are better at delaying things people are waiting for than I am are Warner Bros.**

**But enough self depreciation, story time...**

* * *

Morris was tired. While he liked to think that he didn't _really_ fit the "out of shape nerd" stereotype, Morris did have to admit that almost being completely out of breath after only an hour long hike through a forest was a bit pathetic.

Morris glanced behind him. Boris and Kayla didn't look any better than he did. They needed a break, but Lisha was in her "Press onward!" mode. It wasn't likely she would let them rest until they reached their destination, which was… Morris actually didn't know. Grimacing, he picked up his pace, leaving Kayla and Boris behind.

"Hey Lisha," he said as he finally reached her. "Just where are you taking us?"

Lisha pointed in the direction they were headed. "About a mile or so ahead are the ruins of an old castle. I thought we could check it out, maybe get some info on the campaign we'll be running." Morris scoffed internally. For something as important to Lisha as Neoquest she would have waited until she had a full day to take care of it. He didn't bother calling her on the lie though, she probably had a good reason for telling it.

"It's getting late though, it's going to take at least an hour and a half to get back home as it is," said Morris, probing further. "Don't you think we should go back, maybe come tomorrow when we have more time?"

Lisha stopped and turned to look at him. "I can't wait that long, it has to be now."

"What's so important that it can't wait a day or two?"

For a second, Lisha looked like he was going to tell him. But then her face hardened, and he knew before she opened her mouth that he wasn't going to get an answer. "It's private. Don't worry, we won't stay there too long."

"Okay, then how about a break?" asked Morris, changing the topic. "We're all dead tired over here, none of have your seemingly endless store of energy."

Lisha scowled. "We're almost there Morris! You guys don't look that bad."

There was a thumping noise behind Morris. He turned and saw that Boris had collapsed from exhaustion. He'd be fine, but probably wasn't going to move for a bit. Morris looked back at Lisha and jerked his head at Boris. "He begs to differ."

Lisha scowled once again. "Fine. Five minutes, then you guys had better be moving. I'm going to scout ahead." She half jogged, half ran into the trees, calling back a simple, "Be ready guys!"

Morris returned to his other two friends in deep thought. Why wouldn't Lisha tell him why they were out here? She had never been the secret keeping type, the only reason she wouldn't explain was that Morris could think of was that it was very personal…

He tapped himself on the head sharply. There was only one very personal thing that Lisha had learned recently, that had to be the reason…

Kayla was helping Boris back to his feet. "I thought I was going to faint for real after any more of that, thanks for taking the fall for the team." she said. "No pun intended."

Boris brushed himself off. "No big deal. It was better than walking more, that's for sure."

Morris raised an eyebrow. "You faked it?"

"Are you surprised?"

"Not really."

Kayla leaned against a large oak tree and adjusted her hat. "So, Morris," she began. "Did you find out why we're out here so late?"

"Well, Lisha wouldn't say anything," replied Morris. "But… I think she's starting to remember her brother."

The friends fell silent as they considered the implications of what Morris had said.

"We can't let her find out we know," said Boris in a rare moment of maturity. "Lisha can't stand people pitying her."

Kayla nodded. "We need to pretend that we have no idea what's going on. She can't think that we are taking this outing seriously in the least."

"So we're playing 'three stooges'?" asked Boris.

"Nothing so grand," replied Morris. "Just role-play. We're actually going to a Meridellian castle, that shouldn't be too hard."

* * *

There aren't too many things in the world more annoying that a role player who will not break character under any means. Someone needs the time? Pet has a broken limb? Your historical educational village has been taken over by terrorists? Any of these situations are made five times worse by throwing in someone who won't stop acting like he's a knight. Or Kauvara. Or Count Von Roo.

So while Lisha was trying to have a meaningful moment at the ruins of this castle- because it obviously meant something important to her- she was finding it impossible for two reasons. The first reason was that she remembered nothing about ever being here. The second was…

"Take that Kauvara!!"

…idiotic friends who had attention spans of gnats.

Boris was busy trying to kill Kayla with his pointy stick, while Kayla was grabbing random weeds and berries to use in "potions". The assorted forest goods would just wind up in her backpack, where they would stay for weeks until she had to clean it out because of… why was she thinking about this?

Morris was at the moment running around screaming about storming the long defeated castle or something like that. At least if she had a serious question he would probably give her a straight answer, unlike Kayla and Boris.

Lisha had already given the castle a quick once over, but hadn't found anything that might signify why she had been so compelled to come here. The only thing she had seen that was even slightly curious were a patch of flowers that seemed vaguely familiar. They looked like the ears of a certain species of pet, but which one was it-

-"The enemy is attacking! We must hold the castle!!"

God damn Morris…

* * *

As Lisha turned on one heel and glared at him, Morris was sure that he had pushed his "Short attention span" routine just a bit too far. She wouldn't pummel him. Probably. But a severe chewing out was definitely coming his way. He had done his job a little too well. At least Lisha didn't suspect that he or the others knew anything, but that was a small comfort at this moment.

"Morris, if you don't shut up I'm going to blast you right now!" she yelled, pointing her toy wand at him with a menacing pose.

Morris sighed in relief. If she was willing to slip into character for the moment, she couldn't be that mad. Morris's relief turned to confusion as Lisha's toy wand started to _glow._

'What the hell?' He thought. 'Toys aren't supposed to…'

"OH SHI-!"

* * *

Loud wasn't the word to describe the resulting explosion. Morris had a hard time thinking of what the exact word would be, seeing as he had just dodged certain death by inches. But he was sure the word had to have at least three syllables.

Morris got up from the ground and looked at the wall that had been directly behind him a moment ago. Or more precisely, what was left of it. Whatever that blast was had turned the ruins to not so much rubble as actual dust. Luckily, Morris had barely managed to jump out of the way of his demise at the hands of… Lisha?

Morris stared at Lisha in shock. She looked just as confused and scared as he did, which at least meant she hadn't just tried to kill him. That had to be good.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kayla and Boris running over, probably to find out what the hell had just happened.

"Lisha, what did you just do?" Morris asked. He didn't really expect an answer, but it was the kind of situation where asking was mandatory.

* * *

The stone wall had been _obliterated._

Much more importantly, she had just almost _killed_ Morris. Lisha had told herself she was inches away from it several times, almost on a daily basis. It came with the territory of being friends with a smart-ass. But that had all been fun and games.

Lisha looked at her wand, and something rose in her stomach that felt oddly like disgust. She wanted to throw the wand away, but for some reason knew she couldn't. But it had just almost killed one of her best friends! Did this mean that as long as she had the wand, every time she got mad at someone, pink death would spew in their general direction?

"Lisha!" a voice called, shaking her from her thoughts. She looked up and saw that Boris and Kayla had ran over to see what had happened.

"What happened?" asked Boris. "We heard that explosion or whatever it was and we came as fast as we could.

"Lisha just… blew up the wall that was just here with her wand," said Morris, still in awe.

"That's… that's impossible!" cried Kayla.

"It happened," Morris insisted. "In fact, she almost hit _me."_

Lisha quickly directed her gaze back to the ground to avoid her friends' eyes. She couldn't see them, but they were probably all staring at her in… fear. They were afraid of _her_.

Lisha couldn't blame them, she had almost killed Morris.

"Guys… I…" Lisha tried to talk, but the words stuck in her throat.

After almost killing one of your friends, the situation can become very awkward. In most cases, some kind of tension breaker is required to restore the status quo.

"Well… thank god Lisha's always had horrible aim at first person shooters," said Boris.

Far from the intended effect, that only made things slightly more awkward. They desperately needed something to take their minds off of what had just happened. The world dropping out from underneath the four friends did the very trick nicely.

* * *

Morris opened his eyes; then immediately shut them when it caused massive head pain. He also had a horrible leg cramp, but that wasn't nearly as bad as the headache. He heard familiar snoring coming from the general vicinity of his cramped leg. That would be Boris, he was probably still asleep on said leg which had caused the cramp. Morris shoved him off and stood up, hoping he hadn't drooling on the carpet he felt while he was asleep.

…since when did forests have carpets?

They didn't, obviously. Somehow, they had ended up indoors.

"Oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen,"

Morris groaned. "Where are we, who is naming random elements from the periodic table, and most importantly _why?_"

"Why are we here?" Lisha asked. "Or why is Kayla naming elements?"

Kayla and Lisha had obviously woken up before him. "It's not like you know the answer to either Lisha," muttered Morris. "It was a rhetorical question."

"Helium, Potassium,"

His headache was gone, so Morris chanced opening his eyes. There was no pain, so he looked around the room. The walls were made of stone, and numerous paintings covered the walls which looked like the belonged in, well, medieval castles.

"Lisha?" he asked.

"Yeah?"

"How did we get into a castle?"

"Beryllium, Silver-"

"I thought you were asking rhetorical questions Morris?"

"Seriously Lisha. Where are we?"

Lisha grinned. No, scratch that, it was a full smile. Morris hadn't seen her so happy in months. "Morris, I think the better question is 'When are we?'"

Lisha let the implications of her statement sink it for him.

"Lisha," began Morris calmly. "Are you suggesting that we just _time traveled?_"

Her smile growing even larger was answer enough.

Morris shook his head. "Lisha…"

"Phosphorus, Sulfur, Water-"

"Wait, that last one wasn't an element!" cried Morris, pointing at Kayla who was still spouting nonsense. "Water is a compound!"

"Morris, we just time traveled and you're worried about the periodic table? We may never have to go back to science class again!"

Morris tried to control his temper. "We don't even know if we time traveled in the first place. Anyway, I don't give a damn about elements, I'm worried about Kayla!"

"I'm sure Kayla will be fine! We need to explore and find out what's going on!"

"Are you seriously so wrapped up in your own little fantasy world that you can't spare a few minutes to worry about your friend!" shouted Morris.

"I'd been trying to snap her out of it before you woke up! Nothing worked, we just have to wait until she stops!"

"Hey, guys?"

"So we'll just leave Kayla here while she starts listing prime numbers or something and go explore?"

"Guys?"

"Well obviously someone has to stay here and watch her!"

"I wonder who you had in mind for that since Boris is knocked out? Oh, I guess good old Morris can be the responsible one and watch my friends, while I go and screw around in a strange castle!"

"SHUT UP ALREADY!"

Lisha and Morris turned, and saw Kayla glaring at both of them. "About time the both of you shut up..." she muttered. "Where are we anyway?"

"Kayla, thank god you're alright!" said Morris.

"What are you guys talking about?" asked Kayla.

"Well, basically…" began Lisha.

"Oh damn, Boris!" cried Kayla when she finally noticed that Boris was still unconscious. "Is he okay?"

"Are you kidding?" asked Morris. "He's just a really heavy sleeper. He'll be fine."

"But we still need to wake him up though," said Lisha.

"If he's just sleeping, I can wake him up," Kayla chimed in. She took her pack off her back and started to rummage through it. "I just need a few of the weeds I picked up while we were in the forest."

"What, you're gonna whip up a potion?" snorted Morris.

"No, I don't need to," said Kayla, absorbed in gathering her materials. She grabbed some green and yellow weeds along with a bottle. She started to crush the weeds and put them in the container. "If you just mix together these two plants and add water (she grabbed her canteen and poured a small amount of water in the bottle) you get something similar to smelling salts. It doesn't nearly pack as much punch, but…"

She held the mixture under Boris's nose while Morris sighed. "Kayla, role-playing isn't going to help us get Boris awake…" Just as he said that, Boris snapped up, fully alert.

"Wow," said Morris, impressed. "I guess you weren't just messing around. Where'd you learn how to do that?"

Kayla looked shocked. "I… don't know…"

"I'm sure you picked it up somewhere. Knowledge doesn't just come from nowhere."

Kayla visibly composed herself. "Yeah, you're right. I must have just forgot where I learned it."

Lisha tapped her foot impatiently. "Come on!" she cried. "We're all up and ready to go, and we've been teleported to a mysterious castle. Let's explore!"

* * *

It turned out that exploring a castle you weren't supposed to be in was an easy way to get caught by guards. There were two, and they were both a pet that none of the kids had ever seen before. One of them looked friendly enough, but the other seemed like he would be happy to introduce them to the business end of his spear.

"Hey, how did you kids get in here?" asked the second guard, waving his spear around.

Lisha tried to explain how they had gotten there, but she knew the guard couldn't hear her over Boris, Kayla, and Morris doing the exact same thing. He lost patience quickly.

"You!" the guard shouted, pointed the spear at Lisha. She tried not to faint from fear. "Just you, explain what you four are doing here."

Lisha took a deep breath, and told the story from the beginning. As she continued, she realized just how stupid this story sounded. Four kids being warped through time to an ancient castle? There was no way either of them would believe this. If they were lucky, they would only get thrown out of the castle. If they were unlucky…

"Do you think I'm stupid! I'm throwing all of you in the dungeons until you feel like telling me how you _really_ got in!"

"NOOOOOO!!" Morris cried.

The first judged fidgeted. It was clear he wasn't comfortable with the way this was going. "Come on Frank, do these kids really look like spies to you?"

"It could be a cunning disguise!" said Frank. "They've obviously been sent to gather information Joe!"

Joe sighed and shook his head. "We're just going to throw you out. You don't have to panic." He gave Morris a reassuring grin, and gestured for the four kids to follow him.

As they were led away, Boris made a silent scream of "NOO!!" Morris would have punched him, but was worried the guards might get the wrong idea.

"You really shouldn't be sneaking around the castle like this," lectured Frank as he and Joe led them through it's many corridors. "It's not a place for kids to play around in."

Lisha let the kid comment slide, the guards were the one with the spears and armor after all. "So, exactly which castle are we in again?"

"You don't know?" asked Joe.

They shook their heads.

"Some spies you are."

Frank sighed. "How can you not know? This is Meridell Castle, nothing like it around for miles!"

Lisha froze. Meridell?

Morris poked her on the shoulder. "Lisha," he whispered. "I know what you're thinking right now, but there has to be another explanation. We can't have traveled back in time!"

"When you think of a better explanation, let me know Morris. Until then, as far as I'm concerned we've time traveled!"

"You can't jump to conclusions like that-"

Morris was cut off by the sound of a window shattering behind her. Lisha turned, expecting to see Boris with an apologetic and stupid look on his face. Instead, she screamed.

They were pets; that was clear. Lisha could plainly tell that a Skeith, Scorchio, and Techo stood before them. But they looked… evil. That was the only way to describe it. Their physical appearance was horrible, a corrupted version of their respective species that were half as ugly as mutants but three times as menacing.

But it was their demeanor which shook Lisha to her core. Their stances projected an almost tangible aura of confidence and hate. They simply stood there, seemingly content. But Lisha was sure that they could and would attack at any moment.

Frank shouted a battle-cry and lunged at the Skeith, spear held high. The Skeith _caught _it. Frank's eyes widened, and instead of backing away he simply he stood there shocked. The Skeith didn't look angry, or even tense, but _bored_. He sneered at Frank, and the expression was enough for the guard to try to flee in terror. He didn't get far, the Skeith struck suddenly, almost too fast for Lisha to register movement. He was hit directly, and went sailing into the far wall. He didn't get up.

Joe cursed, then shouted, "You kids, stay back! I'll handle this!" He charged at the three pets. Again, the trio said nothing. But Lisha could almost _hear_ the utter contempt that oozed from them. "You charge at _us_, you little nothing?" they said without words.

The Techo pounced on Joe, pinning him before he could even raise his spear. Lisha shut her eyes quickly in order to prevent seeing what happened next, but she couldn't close her ears to the guard's scream.

And now they turned to Lisha and her friends. The Scorchio smirked, drinking in their fear. He opened his mouth to speak for the first time. "We'll have to kill you now, of course. I hope you understand, we can't have anyone alerting the main guard to our presence."

Lisha tried to back up, but only got a few feet before she hit the wall. She knew that running was her only chance, but the thought of turning her back to these things for even a moment only caused her terror to grow. There was no way to escape; she and her friends were going to die.

The realization finally hit Lisha: she was going to die. She and all her friends were going to be murdered in cold blood, hundreds of years before they were even born. It was a horrible ending to her life, and ironically something interesting had finally happened. These were stupid thoughts, she knew, but she couldn't help it. Lisha was sure all of her friends were thinking of their families right now, but all Lisha could think of was… was…

"IT WASN'T SUPPOSED TO END LIKE THIS!!" she cried desperately.

…_And so it won't._

Lisha thought she had imagined it, desperate for a lifeline out of the situation. But just a moment later, a warmth began to spread through her entire body. As it did, she somehow became less and less afraid of the three pets who were going to kill them. That fear was replaced with… confidence. And she wasn't sure how, but she knew that the sudden surge of confidence and the hidden speaker were connected.

Lisha looked around rapidly, trying to figure out who had said that. Although "said" wasn't the right word, it hadn't been spoken out loud. It was even telepathy or anything like that, or at the very least it didn't "sound" like typical movie telepathy, which sounded like the sound guys had found the Echo control for the first time and went crazy.

Now that she thought about it, it hadn't even been words. It had been more like… a feeling, that was a better way to describe it. Suddenly, the room was filled with a pink glow. It only took a moment for Lisha to find the source, which was…

…her wand.

On a hunch, Lisha whispered, "Was that you?"

The pink light intensified for a moment, and Lisha heard- no felt- the same voice not so much say "Yes" as giving a feeling of affirmation.

"Can you help us?"

The same feeling again.

The Techo chuckled. "An impressive bauble you seem to have girl. I'll be sure to take it from your cold, dead hands.

The magic- Lisha had put the finally put the pieces together, what _else_ could it be but magic- seemed to ask for permission for…

Lisha understood. She simply uttered "Go."

It was over in seconds. Lisha somehow managed to control and direct the same burst of pink energy she had almost hit Morris with on the Skeith. She saw a look of complete shock cross his face before the blast hit him head on, blowing him into the castle wall and knocking him out instantly. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Boris and Morris charge at the Scorchio, somehow managing to quickly subdue him. Meanwhile, Kayla threw the contents of a potion in the face of the Techo, who gave a shrill scream of agony before collapsing.

How had she done that? Lisha looked at her wand in awe. It didn't _look_ any different, but it definitely _felt_ different.

She smiled. "Thank you for the help," she said to the wand. It pulsed once in acknowledgement.

"Lisha!" Kayla called. "Did you hear me?"

Kayla's question brought Lisha back to the situation at hand. "Sorry, what did you say Kayla?"

Morris walked over and shook her lightly. "Lisha, we can freak out about just what happened later. But right now we need to focus on what to do next."

Lisha nodded, Morris was right. She thought for a few moments then said, "Okay, you and Boris go look for more guards. We need to get whatever these three things are under lock and key. Kayla and I will see what we can do about the guards." Lisha tried not to look at where the second soldier lay, she knew she wouldn't like what she saw.

The boys left, and Lisha turned to Kayla. "I think the one guard is just knocked out. Can you use whatever you used on Boris to get him awake?"

"Maybe," replied Kayla. "Like I said, it's not anywhere close to actual smelling salts. He might be too far out of it, I would need more ingredients to make a stronger solution…" She started mumbling to herself as she walked over to the guard and reached into her pack.

After pulling out the bottle she had used to wake up Borris, she held it over Frank's nose. He stirred slightly, then slowly opened his eyes. On instinct grabbed for his spear to try and combat the already defeated enemies.

"Don't worry about those three," said Lisha. She tried to manage a smile, but it wouldn't come. "They're taken care of."

Joe smiled triumphantly. "Frank managed to take three of them out all on his own?"

"Actually… that was _us_."

"So what happened to…" he finally noticed the other guard's body on the floor. "Oh." He limped over to get a closer look at his friend. Lisha accidently caught a glimpse of the corpse and quickly turned away. There was so much blood…

"He tried to fight them off to protect us," whispered Kayla. "And now he's..."

"You big baby!" Joe said, slapping his friend on the face. "Get up before I give you a _real_ wound."

A small "you bastard…" came from the corpse.

"Wait," said Lisha. "He's alive?"

"Of course he is! We Draiks are made of pretty strong stuff. He'll be fine in a couple of weeks."

"Don't listen to him… I'm dying…" said Frank.

Joe noticed the looks on Lisha and Kayla faces. "He'll be fine," he repeated. "Just needs to get some rest. I'm much more concerned with how you lot manage to take out those three when we couldn't."

"We don't know," said Lisha. "Honestly."

Joe frowned. "I don't quite believe you, but I guess I don't really have the right to pry when you don't want me to. You did save both our lives after all; I can let it go for now."

Morris and Boris charged into the room, followed immediately by a round dozen additional guards. Morris sighed in relief at seeing Joe alive.

"Sir, what's going on?" said one of the new guards. "Who are all of these strange pets."

"Never mind that for now," said Joe. "A couple of you need to get Frank into the infirmary. The rest of you secure those thee pets over there."

The guards hesitated. "Get some spines men!" Joe shouted. "I know they look a little menacing, but they're unconscious for crying out loud! Go do what I told you to!"

"Yes sir!" The guards placed the three pets in chains, making certain that they would not be able to escape. "Just what are these things?" asked one guard, repulsed by the dark pets.

"You guys don't know?" asked Morris.

Joe shook his head. "None of us do, but nobody tells us much anyway. If anyone one in this castle does know though, it's probably King Skarl. He may not be as "wise" as that blowhard King of Brightvale, but he has at least as much knowledge, probably more…"

Lisha realized that the identity of the trio wasn't the only unanswered question. How had she and the others managed to defeat what two trained soldiers were dominated by? And more importantly, she still didn't know just how they had gotten here in the first place.. Maybe this Skarl would have the answers. But there was something nagging at her. Lisha didn't know why, but she felt like there was something she should be looking for. Or maybe even… someone? But who could she expect to find in the distant past?

"I had thought he was a goner…" muttered Morris. "That Techo really did a number on him."

Boris looked shocked. "Really? You thought he was dead?"

The other three rounded on him. "You knew he was alive?"

"Of course I did."

"Why didn't you tell us?" demanded Lisha.

"I thought you guys knew…"

* * *

Joe quickly escorted them to a large pair of double doors. "You four wait here, I'll just be a few minutes," he said. "I'm going to explain the situation to King Skarl, then let you four in. He won't behead you or anything like that, but try to be polite!" Joe opened the doors just enough for him to slip in and shut them behind them."

"Okay Lisha," said Morris. "I believe you, for now anyway. We've somehow time traveled to Meridell."

"But Meridell was destroyed three hundred years ago!" protested Kayla. "How can we… oh, right, time travel. Never mind."

"Lisha, you were planning our next Neoquest campaign in Meridell, right?" asked Morris.

Lisha nodded. "Yeah, I was doing research on… OH!" she cried. Lisha took off her pack and started digging through it.

"What's up Lisha?" asked Morris.

She pulled out an old and very large book. "The Techo from the museum brought this book over to the hospital. He said he thought I might like to borrow it," she explained. Lisha showed them the cover, and the other three gasped.

"A Complete Guide to Meridell," read Kayla. "You seriously carried that with you here?"

"Hey, don't complain," said Boris. "It should be pretty useful, considering where we are." He grabbed the book and started flipping through the pages.

"Wait!" Morris cried. "Flip back a few pages."

Boris started to backtrack. "Just what am I looking for?" he asked.

"You'll know it when you see it," responded Morris.

Fifteen pages later, there it was. A full page picture of a Skeith with very familiar looking features.

"That can't be the Skeith we just fought," said Lisha.

"Boris, read the passage," said Morris.

Boris coughed, and began to read.

_"On a day like any other, a dark cloud spread over the land, unleashing fearsome beasts upon the citizens. People fled into the forest as giant instruments of destruction laid waste to all. The magnificent castle of Meridell was the first to be crushed._

_"Details are unconfirmed, but it is believed by many that the attackers of Meridell were able to raze the castle so easily because of a crack team of three elite soldiers. These three pets managed to sneak into the castle and severely weaken its defenses from the inside. When the first main attack came, the defenders of the castle were scattered and disorganized, causing them to be swiftly overrun. _

_"Many believe that this battle was the turning point for the entire war. If Meridell had held the castle, then they could have certainly led a more organized war effort. But, with the castle destroyed, Meridell's army was severely damaged and forced to regroup. _

_"While Meridell's army did manage to launch a ferocious counter attack, they were vastly outnumbered, their weapons were inferior to their enemies by far, and their morale was devastated. The army was slaughtered, and Meridell burned..."_

They looked at each other, absorbing the impact of what Boris had read, and by extension what they had just done.

"So it sounds like the reason Meridell was destroyed in the first place was because those three pets managed to do all that damage to the castle," said Morris.

"But we just stopped them…" continued Lisha.

"So basically we just shattered the whole 'don't screw with the timeline during time travel' rule, didn't we?"

"Isn't that a good thing though?" protested Lisha.

"We don't get to make that call Lisha. We don't get to decide Meridell were the good guys so they deserve to live," countered Morris. "Besides, even if they were the 'good guys', saving them when they were supposed to be destroyed causes a ripple effect or something. There could be giant jelly monsters destroying Neopia Central as we speak because of what we did here."

"Giant jelly monsters?" snorted Boris.

"You never know…" muttered Morris. "Anyway, time travel is too damn complicated. So before we do anything else we need to decide how we're going to handle this…"

The doors opened slightly, and Joe poked his head through. Lisha hurriedly grabbed the book and shoved it in her pack. "His Majesty will see you now," said Joe.

He opened the doors, and Kayla and Boris entered the large room. Lisha moved to follow them, but was held back by Morris.

"What is it?" she asked.

Morris sighed. "I know you're excited about all this, but…"

"Yeah?"

"Please think before you do something that will get us all thrown in prison."

Lisha shoved him into the wall and followed after Boris and Kayla.

"At least don't rip apart the fabric of the space-time continuum?" he called after her before catching up with them.

* * *

**The entry from "A Complete Guide to Meridell**" **was part Neopedia and part my own invention. I would have lifted more than I did, but it just seemed to light to be in what is supposed to be a historical reaccounting of Meridell's destruction. I mean "Historical side note: See "Invention of the wooden fork as a weapon." was _funny_, but it didn't really fit...**

**Remember that thing I used to do where I would respond to reviews in this space. I didn't do that last chapter for some reason. It was probably more forgetfulness than lack of a work ethic, so sorry if I made anyone think I'm an elitist snob** **who doesn't care about reviews (I do that enough with the reviews I get to one shots...) For the record, if you review I appreciate it, regardless of whether I respond or not. If I don't, it's probably because I couldn't think of anything to say right off the bat, and it slipped into my mental "To Do List". Which means, of course, that it will get done five years from now, if ever.**

**Anyway,  
**

**AuroraBorealis14- Yeah, the details of the story are really the only reason I'm doing this. The stuff Neopets leaves unsaid and up to the reader's imagination has always been the best part of any plot for me. And even though it's been like 9 months since I said it, I swear I haven't abandoned Confessions.**

**Sarchale- Glad you liked the story... erm, can't think of anything else to say. What's up?**

**Ruby- Whoo, I have a number one fan :). But yeah, I guess this doesn't really fall under the category of soon. But hey, I've got about three more weeks of summer, so there's always a small chance that I might do some actual work and get another chapter to this or Confessions out...**

**nobodysirius- I think your review shook me out of my "Endlessly edit one line for three months" phase that I get in way too often, so thanks.**

**One more thing, I'm looking for a beta reader. I've found that I'm pretty incapable of judging my own writing beyond "This isn't total crap, awesome!" So if you're interested, PM me. One thing though, if you're just going to read it and say it's good, that's not what I'm looking for. Ideally, I want someone who will tell me what's bad about a chapter, why it's bad, and give suggestions on how to make it less bad. I'd prefer they did in a nice way, but heaven knows I've been a jerk over other people's stories way too many times to complain about someone being brutal with my work... Someone to bounce ideas off of would be great too, that way I could just ask this X person for advise on writing a scene as opposed to stewing over it forever.  
**

**That's all, see you next chapter (in twenty years maybe? Hopefully sooner).**


	4. Chapter 4

Upon entering the throne room, the first thought to cross Lisha's mind was that the paintings of King Skarl from the present had been (would be?) very kind. Said paintings had gotten the basics right: Skarl was a blue Skeith, average height, a grumpy look on his face. But the paintings had glossed over one glaring detail.

He was fat. Lisha chided herself, calling him flat out _fat_ was unfair. He certainly wasn't "Tub of lard" fat, or even "six neggs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner fat". It was more of a "could stand to take an occasional morning jog" kind of fat. All told, it really wasn't that bad. However, it didn't stop her gaze from lingering on Skarl's belly for a few seconds longer than she had intended.

At Skarl's right stood a blue Lupe who seemed to study the group with a certain… curiosity. Yes, that was it. He was curious about them, as Lisha supposed he had every right to be. The Lupe scanned the group, and eventually met Lisha's eyes. They stared at each other for a few moments, and then the Lupe broke contact to exchange a glance with the king.

Once they reached the center of the room, Skarl smiled (or at least lessened his scowl) and spread his arms to great them. "Welcome!" he said in a booming voice. "Thank you so much for coming!"

"Like we had a choice…" muttered Morris behind Lisha's back. He was out of elbowing or foot-stomping range, so Lisha resolved to save it for later.

Skarl gave the party a closer look. "Wait a moment… you're just a bunch of kids!"

Normally, being referred to as "just a kid" would be a sore spot for Lisha. But, for once, she decided to let the remark slide. It was understandable that he would be a little shocked that four kids had done what two trained soldiers had completely failed at.

Skarl eyed Frank, who gulped and gripped his spear nervously. "Are you trying to play a joke on me soldier?"

"I did tell you that they were a little… odd, your majesty…" said Frank weakly.

Skarl snorted. "Just a little?" He turned back to Lisha. "So, would you care to explain exactly what is going on here?"

Lisha sighed, and began to tell the story a second time. She tried to make it sound less implausible than it had before, but there was simply no way to do it. At least the three captured assassins served as some kind of proof that something supernatural was going on this time...

Lisha smiled to herself as she continued the telling. Something supernatural _was_ going on here. She hadn't really had time to digest it, things had happened too fast. But, as she recapped all that had happened to herself as well as her friends, it seemed obvious: they were on an _adventure_.

"…and that's how we got here," finished Lisha.

Skarl and the Lupe exchanged a quick glance. The Lupe nodded once.

"I know it sounds stupid…" said Lisha, trailing off.

"Actually, I completely believe you," answered Skarl simply.

Lisha sputtered, she hadn't been expecting that. Seeing her stumble, Morris stepped in. "How come?" Morris asked. "I mean, regardless of whether it's true or not, it is pretty unbelievable."

Skarl nodded. "This isn't the first time I've heard this story, or something similar to it at least. One of our finest Knights had a similar experience to what you describe."

"Really?" asked Lisha, excited. Maybe they would finally get some answers!

The Lupe stepped forward from Skarl's side.

"I first came to this land years ago, when I was even younger than you four," he explained. "I found myself here, in this castle, with nothing more than a toy sword, cardboard armor… and abilities much like your own."

"So did you came from our time then?" asked Morris**.**

"I do not know… I have no memory of my life before finding myself in Meridell."

"None?"

"None except my name… Jeran Borederre."

Lisha suppressed a chortle. That name… it was pretty funny. What kind of person would inflict the name "Borederre" on a child? She heard Morris and the others react to the name in shock also, they must have thought it was funny too.

Skarl took up the narrativeve from there. "Jeran used his new-found abilities to easily gain a spot in my army, even at such a young age. It helped him rise through the ranks quickly, but he gained his position as my right hand man due to his sound judgment and impeccable skill. He has rescued Meridell from peril countless times… but I'm afraid this country is about to enter it's greatest crisis yet."

"So you know what those three… things are?" asked Kayla.

"Yes," confirmed Skarl. "And I'm pretty sure I know why they're here."

Skarl stood up from his throne and walked over to a window on the wall to his left. He gestured for Lisha and the others to follow.

Once Lisha got a good view out of the window of the countryside below, she gasped. As far as the eye could see, there stood beautiful medieval buildings. Although she couldn't make anything out in detail from the high vantage point, she could still see figures moving about in what must have been a town. As Lisha took in the sight, she could only think of two words to describe the scene in front of her… golden age.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" asked Skarl softly. "This country is my greatest pride… it's truly wonderful." He sighed. "It wasn't always like this however."

* * *

_King Skarl and Jeran looked out of the filthy window. As far as the eye could see, buildings lie in ruin and disrepair. The town had been bustling once, in some faraway time that seemed now like it had been a dream. Now, the citizens in Meridell were too busy doing anything and everything they could to stay alive to carry out any business in the town._

_"Jeran…" muttered Skarl, looking resigned. "Things are grim, to say the least."_

_Jeran tried his best to be hopeful. "All hope isn't lost," responded Jeran, trying his best to be helpful. "Valrigard_ _still might have luck in seeking emergency aid from other countries."_

_Skarl curled his fist. "Bah!" he snarled, punching the glass softly. "I can tell you their responses already. All of the neighboring kingdoms are hording what supplies they have in fear that was has happened here will also occur there. They'll be polite about it, but we will not be receiving any help from them."_

_"Well, how about Illusen? She has helped us in the past."_

_"Illusen? She'd say something like _'I cannot interfere with nature, the will of the Earth must take it's course,' _We cannot expect help from her either."_

_Jeran paused, not wanting to bring up the subject. He knew Skarl wouldn't like it, but every avenue for aid had to be considered. "Well… couldn't we ask Brightvale for help?"_

_Skarl said nothing, but Jeran had spent enough time around him to know he was about to explode. He had to try and defuse this immediately. "I know you have a rivalry with King Hagan, but-"_

_This only seemed to agitate Skarl more, and Jeran prepared for his outburst. He was deeply disturbed when Skarl simply deflated. Skarl looked him in the eye, and Jeran saw a defeated Skeith._

_"I asked my… _brother_… for help almost three months ago."_

_Jeran gasped. The fierce sibling rivalry between Skarl and Hagan was widely known, and even bordered on hatred. The fact that he had already asked Hagan for help was a serious indication of how desperate his King was._

_"Hagan declined to assist us, obviously… but that wasn't even the worst part. After I explained our plight, he looked at me and had the nerve to say, _'Well, that's why you should have been wise like us, and stockpiled your food!' _He even had the nerve to tell me to read up on _The Ant and the Grasshopper!"

_Jeran could tell that the sheer memory of the event infuriated Skarl, but he was simply too spent to fully express his anger._

_"I… I didn't know you had-"_

_"That I had asked my brother for a favor?" Skarl chuckled slightly, but there was no humor in it. "Does it really surprise you that much that I would abandon my pride for the sake of my people?"_

_Jeran didn't know how to respond, so he simply remained silent. They stood at the window, surveying the dying kingdom._

_Eventually, Skarl broke the silence. "How long do we have Jeran?"_

_Jeran thought back to the figures he had calculated and recalculated for months. "Assuming we stay at our current consumption rate, which is already frightfully low… I'd say about a year before we run out of food, maybe less. Then people start dying in mass." Jeran shook his head after delivering the dire report. "I don't see a way out of this… what can we do?"_

_Skarl sighed. "It's time for a final gambit, Jeran."_

_"What do you mean?_

_"I'm sending you and your fellow Knights to search Neopia in order to find something, anything that can save us."_

_"Do you have any idea where to start, or what to look for?"_

_"I have a few leads…" muttered Skarl. "Bbut they are only rumors, legends. They most likely won't help you." Skarl looked out to the horizon, almost as if he could gleam the direction of the miracle that would save the kingdom._

_"It's a desperate plan, King Skarl."_

_"A better word would be 'delusional'," answered Skarl. "But we have to hope."_

_Jeran snorted. "Hope is quite the paltry gift in times like this."_

_"Hope is all we have left."_

**

* * *

**

"Luckily, our hopes were answered," said Skarl. "Jeran and the Knights somehow managed to find an old soothsayer who told them the location of a magical artifact. They managed to secure it and bring it back here."

"Artifact?" asked Lisha. "What kind of artifact?"

"It's true name has been lost to the ages," said Jeran. "We've taken to simply calling it 'The Orb'".

Boris snickered. "That's creative…" he muttered to himself.

As usual, Lisha ignored him. "So what does the Orb do?"

Jeran looked a little… sheepish? "We aren't exactly sure… what it does or how it works," he admitted. "What we have figured out is that it seems to respond to the will and desire of the owner, who is King Skarl. As soon as we brought the Orb back to Meridell and gave it to the King, our misfortunes immediately reversed themselves. The land was restored to its full prosperity within months!"

"So you think that… whatever attacked us in the castle is after this Orb?"

Skarl nodded. "I'm almost sure of it."

Morris shook his head, stepping forward. "No… that doesn't add up." He looked at the King, narrowing his eyes. "You're much shrewder that you let on… I'm sure that as soon as you realized what you had you knew that you had to keep it a complete secret. I'll bet if I were to ask any of the citizens in the town just how Meridell was saved, they'd tell me it was a miracle, or something like that."

Skarl nodded once. "You're also shrewder than I had first guessed," he said to Morris. "You are correct, of course, it was plainly a bad idea to let it be known we had an Orb of Prosperity in the kingdom… it would be an open invitation for anyone else to try and steal it!"

"Well, then how did those assassins even know that the Orb was here?"

Skarl's face darkened. "In that party of original Knights… there was a traitor."

Jeran whipped around to face Skarl, shocked, "What are you talking about?"

Skarl sighed. "Jeran, I know you don't like talking about it, but it's true. Valrigard betrayed us… he betrayed his oath as a Knight, he betrayed his friends, he betrayed his _kingdom_."

Jeran opened his mouth seemingly to protest, but was silenced by a quick glare from Skarl.

Lisha jumped in to fill the lull in the conversation. "So this guy… Valrigard… what exactly did he do?"

"After we obtained the Orb, we discovered that Valrigard was a spy for some far away kingdom… we never figured out which one. Of course, as soon as we found out we captured him and threw him in the dungeons. We've interrogated him, but he refused to tell us whether he had gotten a message out about the properties of the Orb, or even which specific kingdom he was working for. We eventually came to the conclusion that we had stopped him in time… but I guess we were wrong."

Skarl punched the wall in frustration. "Damn that Valrigard! No one would have known about the Orb if it weren't for his treachery!"

Morris could see where this was going. He'd read this story before. They all had, all four of them. There was a war coming. It was obvious. There was no other possible way the events he'd seen already could play out. While that was certainly bad, it wasn't the main problem.

The main problem was that in a few minutes, Skarl would ask four teenagers to enter direct combat in this war.

It was absurd. It was dangerous. And it was also inevitable. He had to do something _now_, before Skarl asked. If he waited too long, Lisha would almost certainly volunteer them all into what looked to be a very sticky war.

Morris stepped forward, interrupting Skarl's exposition. "King Skarl… this is all very interesting, but to be perfectly frank… we're only looking for a way to get back to our own time."

At these words, Skarl's face contorted in rage. He pointed in the general direction of the group and shouted "SEIZE IT!" at the top of his lungs. The guards began to converge on them.

Lisha jumped up, "He was just kidding Your Highness!" she cried She lowered her voice so only Morris could hear. "_Weren't you," _she growled. It wasn't a question.

"We got it!" cried one of the guards next to the party. Morris and Lisha looked up, shocked. "Weren't you after us?" asked Lisha.

The guard smirked and showed the group his catch: a small Faerie Harris whom he had caught by the ears.

Skarl seemed to genuinely smile for the first time. "Bring it here," he ordered the guard. The guard quickly complied and handed the Harris to Skarl, making sure that it couldn't escape.

The King pulled the Harris up to his face, so they could look each other in the eye. "We've finally caught you… do you have any idea how much of an annoyance you and your master have been to this kingdom?"

Skarl paused as if waiting for a response. There was none.

"Well, now that you can't hide behind your owner… Jeran, alert the kitchens! I think I'm in the mood for some… Harris sandwiches." At these words, the Harris's eyes grew wide, and he began to struggle to escape Skarl's grasp.

_"Oh, so what have we here?" _called a voice with no obvious source. The voice was female, very light and airy, almost lyrical.

Lisha and the others scanned the room rapidly to try and find the owner of the voice, but she was nowhere to be found.

Meanwhile, Skarl and Jeran had groaned in unison. "I wasjust deciding whether your Harris would taste better on white or rye bread," Skarl muttered.

The voice laughed. _"Skarl, you're such a jokester! I know how well you too get along!"_

The Harris blew a raspberry right in Skarl's face. Skarl looked ready to kill, but simply wiped the spit from his face with his free hand. After making a visible effort to calm himself he said, "Could you please just make yourself visible and tell us why you're here?"

_"Oh, I'm still hidden? I'd completely forgotten about that, I'm sorry!"_

Without any fuss, an Air Faerie popped into existence.

"Skarl and Jeran!" the Faerie said with a huge smile. "It's so wonderful to see you! How long has it been?"

Neither chose to dignify her with a response.

"Erm… excuse me," said Lisha, looking at the Faerie. "Who are you?"

Again, Jeran and Skarl groaned as one.

The Faerie, however, smiled. She jumped softly, and hovered a few feet off the ground. Clouds appeared from nowhere which circled around her in a mesmerizing fashion.

"I am… the soft breath of a spring wind!"

"The furious howl of a desert storm!"

"The gentle caress of a sea's breeze!"

"I am… Psellia, the Dreamer!"

Each of these proclamations had been followed by some kind of flourish, cumulating in a ridiculous pose. Morris managed to keep a straight face. Somehow.

Skarl sighed. "Must you do that _every_ time you force your presence on us?"

Psellia looked confused. She landed, waving away the clouds as she did so. "Do what?"

Jeran coughed. "Didn't you have some reason for being here? Or did you forget it… again?"

Psellia gasped. "Oh my, you're right! I almost-"

"Forgot?" asked Jeran and Skarl.

"Yes, how did you know… but I remember now!"

"Out with it then!" demanded Skarl.

"It's a message from Illusen," answered Psellia.

"No surprise there, she's always too busy to bother with asking for something in person.. what does she want?"

"Illusen has requested the presence of the five time-travelers in her Glade… for tea and cookies."

Jeran sighed. "Bypassing the obvious question, I feel I have to point out that there are actually _four_ time-travelers here, not five."

"No… Illusen was quite clear on there being-" she gasped again. "Oh, yes, that's it! She wants these four to come to the Glade, and _you _to go with them!" she said, indicating Jeran.

"There's probably no point in asking how Illusen already knew that these four would be here... or asking why she didn't warn me about those assassins," muttered Skarl.

"Oh, Illusen knew that it would all be taken care of," responded Psellia, beaming at Lisha and her friends.

Skarl turned to Jeran. "How long before our enemy can launch an assault on the kingdom?"

"As you know, three days ago I intercepted an enemy scouting party claiming to be from the kingdom of Darigan," said Jeran. A large grimace appeared on his face. "I guess we finally know the name of the place that Valrigard sold us out to."

Skarl nodded solemnly. "Continue."

"We have no idea what kind of army they posses, so I'm assuming the worst. If a massive ground force was on it's way to the castle right now, it would take them a good deal of time to make it here."

"How long?"

"Based on the logistics of moving an army, the surrounding countryside, other factors… probably around three weeks, assuming that they are out of range of our long range scouting units. I encountered that first scouting party on the eastern side of the kingdom, but that means almost nothing, they could have just circled around to hide their location. We have no way of knowing where any army could be coming from until they enter our outer borders. Luckily, the castle is in the relative center of the kingdom, so no matter which way they approach we will have the same cushion of warning.

"Also, since we know that Darigan uses advance scouting parties, it is very possible that our own scouts could be taken out before delivering any warning. For the duration of this campaign, we should assume that any lack of communication with any part of the army means the worst."

Jeran looked at Psellia. "Of course, this would be much simpler if you could perform some air reconnaissance for us."

For the first time since she had appeared, Psellia frowned. "You know I can't," she stated simply.

Skarl snorted yet again, glaring at Psellia. "Can't, or won't?" he asked harshly.

Psellia's deepening frown was her only reply.

Skarl turned back to Jeran. "So, three weeks?" asked Skarl.

"I should think two weeks at the absolute worst. There is no way to move a mortal army any faster on the ground."

Skarl paused for a moment, reflecting on his options. "It takes three days to reach Illusen's Glade, correct?"

Jeran froze. "My King, you can't be considering actually having me go to the Glade when the largest campaign in Meridell's history could be mere weeks away!"

"It's like you said, we have two weeks at the least before they enter our borders," replied Skarl. "And I'm sure that Illusen has a more important reason for this meeting that tea!"

Jeran still looked apprehensiveve. "But… the planning… the preparations!"

"All things which do not require your presence, Jeran. Make no mistake, you are invaluable. You will lead the charge in the first battle, be assured. But I'm sure myself and your fellow Knights can handle it."

Jeran looked like he wanted to continue arguing, but a look from Skarl silenced him. He sighed, and bowed in agreement. "Yes, my King."

Skarl turned back to the other four. "As for you four… I would normally not even think of asking what I am about to request of you. But our kingdom is in dire need, and with dire need comes dire measures. You have all shown your mettle, will you fight-"

"We'll do it!" shouted Lisha before Morris could say anything.

Skarl's face showed a small grin, before it was immediately replaced with the standard snarl once again. "Excellent, excellent! Your aid will be an immense help to the cause."

Skarl's frown deepened as he turned to Psellia. "These four and Jeran will accompany you in the morning. I expect all five of them back in _one week_. They _all_ must be back here by that time, so we can prepare for war. I understand _your_ type doesn't have concern for our affairs, but at least promise me this much."

Psellia nodded grimly. "I'll do everything in my power to ensure they'll be back by then… I swear it on the Queen."

Skarl looked shocked. "You would invoke that Oath?"

Psellia's radiant smile returned. "Of course! How else could I show you that I was taking this seriously!"

The King visibly repressed another sigh, and simply nodded. "Thank you, Psellia."

"I believe I will retire to my chambers," announced Jeran. He glanced at the party before him. "I suggest you four do the same. We leave right at dawn tomorrow morning, we can't afford to waste any time."

"Jeran is correct, as always!" said Skarl. "We should take a peaceful rest now, while we have the chance. Tomorrow, and the days preceding, will be a hectic time indeed."

As Skarl called for guards to escort the party to the guest chambers, Morris sighed inwardly. Morris had blown his chance to keep them out of the situation. He had known what was going to happen, and yet he had done nothing to stop it. They were in, all four of them, Lisha had made absolutely sure of that. He didn't know exactly what she had just gotten them into, but he knew it was nothing good.

Lisha smiled at Morris as they walked. "This is so exciting, isn't it Morris!" she said with a large grin."

"Exciting is one word for it," muttered Morris.

* * *

Kayla snorted as she navigated her way through the catacombs of Meridell castle. Sleep? Hardly! Even if she was in the amazingly soft and lavish bed that Skarl had provided her, there was no way she could sleep. Whenever she closed her eyes, instead of the normal blackness there were only formulas and equations.

She somehow just _knew_ how to make potions now. The knowledge had been shoved into her brain without her permission… not that she didn't like it, of course. It was just… _weird_.

So Kayla knew exactly what she needed for her potions, how much of it she needed, and what she would be using it for. What she didn't know was exactly where in the Meridell dungeons the potion stores were.

At least she wasn't lost, her sense of direction had always been above average. Once she found the ingredient stores, she'd be able to get back out of the dungeon with no problems. But with the low lit torches, the damp feel of the stones, the rampant cockroaches and other insects… it was just creepy.

As if to cement the point, Kayla heard a fierce scream echo from the bowels of the dungeon. She gulped, it would be best to find those potion stores and get out as soon as she could.

As she was about to turn a corner, she heard a raspy voice from the hallway.

"Well, good morning! Or evening! Or afternoon!" said the voice, dripping with sarcasm and hate. "I suppose I don't really know which it is! But whichever time of day it happens to be, I hope it finds you well!"

Kayla shivered. Even though the voice couldn't have been directed at her, the sheer malice that it carried bothered her all the same.

"Valrigard, how are you doing?" said a soft voice that Kayla could barely make out.

She had heard that voice before, but Kayla hadn't heard it well enough to place just who it belonged to.

"I'm doing _wonderfully_!" said Valrigard. "Prison is _especially_ lovely today Jeran!"

Neither man spoke for a few moments. As Kayla began to grow impatient, Jeran suddenly blurted out, "Darigan is coming for us!"

There was a short pause, and then Valrigard began to laugh. No, not laugh, _cackle._ Kayla could tell Jeran was waiting for him to finish, but Valrigard continued the insane laughter, pausing only occasionally for breath.

Kayla fumed, she _had_ to see what was going on! But she couldn't without being caught by Jeran. What she needed was-

_information flooded her mind faster than she could comprehend_

Kayla smiled, and whispered words she didn't understand under her breath. The world seemed to shift in a way she also didn't understand, and suddenly she could see Jeran talking to a caged Draik perfectly clearly, even though the wall was still directly between the two men and Kayla. She smiled slightly, magic was _wonderful_.

With her new-found sight, she could see Jeran begin to grow impatient. "Skarl has named you as their spy!" he finally shouted over the laughter.

Valrigard's laughter only grew. "Oh, I suppose that is another charge of grand treason!" he shouted between laughs. "Treason on treason Jeran! I'll have to spend TWO lifetimes in this dingy cell."

'Another charge?' Kayla thought to herself. 'What does he mean? Isn't he in here in the first place for being a spy?'

"So… why are you telling me this Jeran?" Valrigard finally asked, his laughter subsiding. "Guilty conscience? A sense of duty?"

"I…"

"_I really don't CARE, JERAN!"_ shouted Valrigard. "I hope this kingdom _burns to the GROUND!"_

"That's not true!" yelled Jeran. "You don't mean that!"

"I absolutely DO! It would serve us right! And you know it Jeran!"

Again, Valrigard lapsed into his crazed cackle.

Furious, Jeran punched the wall opposite Valrigard's cell. Even though it seemed like he didn't put that much force into the punch, he still managed to turn a sizeable portion of the wall into rubble. Kayla let out a small gasp, she hadn't realized he was _that_ strong.

Jeran turned to Valrigard to say more, but the words wouldn't come. Instead, he simply walked away, Valrigard's laughter ringing in both his and Kayla's ears.

As this was Kayla's first time using magical sight, she didn't realize until too late that Jeran was walking right towards her.

"AH!" she screamed as Jeran turned the corner, almost bumping into her.

Jeran jumped back, seemingly just as startled as Kayla had been.

"I'm-sorry-I-was-just-looking-for-the-potion-stores-and-I-happened-to-find-you-guys-and-I-didn't-mean-to-overhear-and-please-don't-throw-me-in-the-dungeon-" she cried rapidly.

"Calm down!" urged Jeran holding up his hands. "It's okay, it's not as if we forbid you to be here. "I'm not going to throw you in the dungeon or anything like that."

Kayla shook herself, and made herself calm down. When she felt like she could she asked, "That was Valrigard, right?"

Jeran froze. "I suppose you couldn't help but overhear all of that, right?"

Kayla nodded.

Jeran sighed. "As we told you four earlier tonight, Valrigard used to be a Knight of Meridell." He seemed to choke up on the next words. "I don't know why, but he betrayed us, and worked as a spy for Darigan. He was charged with treason and thrown into that cell."

"So what was his first charge?"

"What do you mean?" asked Jeran sharply.

Kayla sensed she was entering dangerous territory, but she forged on. "He said that being a spy would be his _second_ charge of treason. So what was his first?"

Jeran sighed. "Valrigard... is mentally unstable. He's been in this prison for months now it's surely driven him mad…"

Kayla shuddered, she had only been here for an hour at absolute most, and she was already sick of it. To spend _months_ here? She could see how it could drive someone literally crazy.

"You should just ignore anything he said in there," continued Jeran. "Just the ravings of a mad man..."

Jeran turned and looked back the way he had came, the way that lead to Valrigard's cell.

"I believe you said you were looking for the potion stores?" Jeran asked, his back still turned. "I can show you the way if you'd like."

"Oh, yes," Kayla replied. "Thank you, Jeran."

Jeran turned and smiled at her. "Of course... Kayla, was that your name?"

She nodded. "We're allies now Kayla, if you need help, feel free to ask myself, or a guard. There's no need to go wandering around by yourself in a place like this."

"Okay," replied Kayla, unsure if Jeran meant it as simply advice or a rebuke. "I'll keep that in mind."

As Kayla considered just how much she and Jeran could carry back to her room and what she could make with those ingredients, she could almost forget the incessant ravings of Valrigard.

Almost.

* * *

**It's been a while. Sorry about that. More on future updating later.**

**AuroraBorealis14** **- I'm pretty sure I missed six months by quite a lot... better late than never I hope. Also, I'm almost certain that we talked about possible betaing, but it's been so long I've completely forgotten anything that we might have discussed, or in fact if said discussion happened at all. If after all this time you're still interested shoot me another PM and I'll actually save it this time.**

**Musingsage - Thanks for the review... as for quickly I guess there's always next chapter!**

**Kurotorachan - Yeah, Meridell was unique like that... I wish TNT would do more of the same. Or, you know, do anything aside from ACs. Whichever works. I'd talk about my personal theories about tweens and Thieves, and tweens in general, but it would take pages... as someone who talks way too much as it is, feel free to ramble as much as you want!**

**This chapter is a bit of a turning point, I had to make a lot of decisions for exactly how I wanted the story to play out right here. More of that is coming, and it's nice to finally start getting out of the predetermined storyline (Psellia is paticular is fun to write, and will probably continue to be fun in the future).  
**

**So yeah, updates. It's almost been a year since I've updated this, and almost 8 months since I've done anything on this website at all. I'd like to have an excuse for this, but it's really just the old "I'll do it later" attitude that really makes these updates take so long. I wanted to make absolutely sure that a year didn't go by without me updating. Having one story in an almost two year long coma is enough for me.**

**So, I'm going to try something.**

**Three months.**

**In three months maximum, this story will be updated with _something_ it might not be the next chapter (and in all honesty, probably won't be). Much more likely, I'm thinking about throwing up a couple of upcoming scenes, or random things with the characters that have absolutely nothing to do with the main story, or _god forbid_ I might even update Confessions. But something will happen in three months, and unless I say otherwise every three months after that, even if I have to just resort to "I'm not dead, this will continue".**

**Because this will continue. Eventually.**

**Windfox.**


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